Kimbo's whole persona is based on careful marketing, (why else would an amatur-level/low-level professional fighter like him be headlining events?) and instead of attacking the sport as a whole, people like O'Reilly use him to attack the sport. It's pretty easy, too. He's a scary looking black man who got famous fighting in parking lots and backyards.

This just makes me wonder: what if Kimbo loses. I mean EXC, whose entire marketing of this fight is resting on Kimbo, hardly mentions James' name in the adverts. So if James won, I can imagine the John Q. Public wonder "Who the heck is this James guy? Isn't Kimbo supposed to win or something?" It just seems to me they are putting a lot on Kimbo's shoulders and should he not win, then wth is EXC going to do?

That article sucks balls because it doesn't acknowledge that Kimbo is training with Bas and has become a real MMA fighter. The dude works hard and is doing it the right way. He isn't drinking and hanging out with thugs. He is a disciplined fighter training with the best.

While I respect Kimbo's dedication and training and hope he does well, this article makes a very valid point. He hasn't accomplished a single damn thing to warrant the hype.

And that building your brand around him as EliteXC is doing is very risky, he'll either live up to the hype or be a sever disappointment when he finally fights someone in the top 30 for heavy weights.

Also I think Elite is kind of hopping that the noob MMA fans will keep supporting Kimbo with out having to give him real competition.

At some point though some the people will want to see Kimbo VS a well known free agent, like Tim Sylvia, Monson, Arlovski or something, and frankly he'll be destroyed so quickly it will hurt them.

Kimbo's whole persona is based on careful marketing, (why else would an amatur-level/low-level professional fighter like him be headlining events?) and instead of attacking the sport as a whole, people like O'Reilly use him to attack the sport. It's pretty easy, too. He's a scary looking black man who got famous fighting in parking lots and backyards.

That's reinforcing a stereotype, and no matter how true it might seem, I don't know why somebody as decent(no sarcasm, I like kimbo) such as Kimbo would subject himself to this....

I don't know what to call it, but I'll use the word "Whoring" for lack of a better one.

The street argument is retarded. BJJ is so much overkill for the street that its ridiculous. Unless you're the idiot that picks a fight with the high school wrestling team, barring knife or gun play, the opponent shouldn't make it past double leg + ground and pound - Osiris

O'Reilly

As someone above mentioned conservatives, I wanted to point out that Bill O'Reilly is much more a populist with some conservative views than an actual conservative. He's more the type to see himself as a tribune for the common man than have a coherent conservative philosophy.

On topic, I'm interested to see Kimbo's fight and to see if free, network tv MMA can take off.